Unofficial news and tips about Google

February 4, 2007

Google Prepares a Presentation Tool

I'm sure many people wondered if Google will release a presentation tool, after building Google Docs&Spreadsheets. Well, the answer is yes, and the code-name of the tool is Presently (a play on Writely, the name of the online word processor bought by Google).

You will be able to convert a document into a presentation, create slides and view the presentation in full-screen. Here are some messages from a Google file [update: Google removed the messages, so here's a screenshot], that will be used by Presently:

Great dig! In order to become a 'killer' online software pack, Google really has to add in loads of features to its existing docs products. Like graphing for spreadsheet and maybe better slide switching effects in Presently.

@ Conor ClearyI don't like the name Presently as well. How about Google Slides

I like "Presently" actually, provided that it's prounced PRE'-sent-ly and not pre-SENT'-ly. :-) Though given the fate of the Writely brand, if this product ever goes live, we can be rest assured it'll have a more inspiriting and assured title similar to "Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Accumen Presenter." And who wouldn't be the first to sign up for Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Accumen Presenter for Your Domains?

Online presentation software is nothing new to the web. There are already decent releases from Zoho.com (Zoho Show), Preezo, and Empressr in a race to become the first popular. But is this Presentation software ready for big business?

Fantastic find. It's about time they fleshed out their Office alternatives. I can't wait to try this new app. The name really doesn't matter too much as long as it's functional. Although, I prefer the name "Google Slide Show" above all others so far.

var MSG_UNSUPPORTED_BROWSER="Unsupported Browser Presently doesn't support Opera and will not function properly. Would you like to continue anyway?";Shame on you. It's always the same crap. A more than capable browser that's sniffed out. Then I have to waste my time doing some user js just to bypass our incompetence...

Although many blogs started to use titles like "Google Powerpoint", I think the Presently thing will just be a simple way to build slides from an existing document. I think Picasa Web's slideshow feature might be a good starting point. Also Google could let you use pictures from Picasa Web.

The name Presently is just a code name people. I'm sure they'll work on the whole suite's name soon. Longhorn has been released but its called Vista. Writely has been released but its called Google Docs.... I'm expecting the name eventually to be Google Present. It was inevitable they'd want a chunk of this market. Presentations, Spreadsheets and Word Processing... That'll cost you £99 for Office 2007 Home and Student, Google - FREE.

They've got a lot of work to do on it yet tho. The word processor needs better formatting options, and the Spreadsheet needs a hell of a lot of work to get charts into it.[

In summer 2006, I started developing a presentation web application myself... I hope to have the site launched in november 2007... Notice that besides Google, Adobe is also about to launch a graphics web application... It will be exciting to see if I can beat these big guys... I think so!!! Because already now the application kicks ass!!! Cant wait to show it off to the public...